'Everything is basketball': NABI tournament shines light on cultural love for basketball

Holbrook junior forward Tyler Tapaha joked with teammates between layups as his team, the Gunnerz, prepared for their first matchup in the Native American Basketball Invitational on Tuesday at Grand Canyon University's Canyon Activity Center.

Tapaha is the spirit of his team, consisting primarily of family members and other members of Indigenous tribes within the Northern Arizona region. Ahead of the game, he was playfully poking fun at his teammates for not making their layups.

This team is a brotherhood, much like the entire tournament reflects. Tapaha played for years with his brother, Brandon Tapaha, sharpening his skills with club teams on the Navajo reservation. His older brother, Jalen Tapaha, who played basketball for Winslow High, is the head coach and leads the group of Gunnerz.

"I think maybe it's in his genes," Tapaha's mother, Reshelda Cacaha, said about Tapaha's love for hoops. "His dad used to play for Holbrook. Then his brother Jalen played basketball, Brandon played basketball. And now even his little brother plays basketball.

"So it's just from generation to generation."

Starting in 2003, the NABI tournament has been the largest, most prestigious Native American basketball tournament in the United States. It's mindfully constructed to unite Indigenous communities and uplift its youth; throughout the week of the games, the organization holds a NABI College Career Fair and NABI Educational Youth Summit and exposes its athletes to its NABI College Scholarship fund, which has accumulated over $450,000 worth of financial aid since 2003.

Cacaha said that the NABI tournament is constantly the talk of the reservation. Everyone wants to be a part of it, whether it is the kids vying for an opportunity to compete or families and supporters, such as Cacaha, who jump in their car for a four-hour drive to the Valley.

"Culturally, it keeps everyone tied together," Gunnerz assistant coach Jamie Tapaha said. "Basketball is what keeps the Native community driven; it gives us something to look forward to and really brings people together. We have a fan base that likes to pull for us, and they show up to support them."

"And they are parents from kids before, older siblings of kids before. And sometimes they're not even related to them now, but they like to see them play. It warms our hearts."

Tyler Tapaha loves the game. He played nearly the entire contest in his team's 46-41 win over the Le Red Bears of Minnesota on Tuesday. In his first break, which came with just under three minutes left, the Le Red Bears went on a 6-0 run to tie the game at 41. After a timeout, Tapaha returned to the court, caught the ball on the other side of the court and launched a two-handed pass to his teammate, who then scored the go-ahead bucket and converted the and-1 free throw to seal the win.

That sequence of events was not by mistake; it just highlights his identity as a leader of the team. Tapaha said when he is on the floor to compete, his most important objective is to be efficient as a passer.

"He plays for his brothers," Jamie Tapaha said. "I think he wants to live up to his name. He's a true leader; I think that's what kind of propels him to do his best."

"He has a fight in him that I've never seen in anyone else, and I think that's what keeps him going and is going to take him to the next level as well."

Hooping is an avenue for peace on the reservation and a traditional heirloom for the community. It's a fixture within their rich culture and community and a love not likely to fade.

"Everything is basketball," Cacaha said. "Every weekend, every day. If they're not playing in a tournament, they are outside playing with each other. From the youngest to the oldest."

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 'Everything is basketball': NABI tournament shines light on cultural love for basketball